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Shòu Xīng
The Old Man of the South Pole ( Chinese & ), also called the Old Immortal of the South Pole (), Xian of Longevity (), or Star of Longevity (), is the Taoist deification of Canopus, the brightest star of the constellation Carina. He is typically portrayed with long white hair and beard, a protruding forehead and a healthy pink complexion. His right hand often holds a peach and left hand a walking staff with a calabash gourd, which is said to contain the elixir of life. He can also be portrayed as riding a crane or a deer, often accompanied by disciples. He is one of the symbols of happiness and longevity in Far Eastern culture. Description The Old Man of the South Pole is often depicted in Chinese pictures as an old man with a long white beard with a deer by his side. This style of picture is related to the story of an emperor of the Northern Song dynasty, who had invited such an old man from the street and later considered the old man as the sign of his longevity. In certain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Language
Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic languages, Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a Language family, family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin with 66%, or around 800&nb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North China
North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities Beijing and Tianjin, the provinces of China, provinces Hebei and Shanxi, and the autonomous regions of China, autonomous region Inner Mongolia (although the four prefecture (China), prefectures east of the Greater Khingan Range are sometimes regarded as parts of Northeast China). Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north of the Qinling–Huaihe Line, with its heartland in the North China Plain. Most inhabitants here speak variants of Northern Chinese languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin, which includes the Beijing dialect and its cousin variants. The Beijing dialect is largely the basis of Standard Chinese (or Standard Mandarin), the official language of the People's Republic of China. Jin Chinese an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Du Fu
Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Together with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai, Du is often considered one of the greatest Chinese poets of his time. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but Du proved unable to make the necessary accommodations. His life, like all of China, was devastated by the An Lushan rebellion of 755, and his last 15 years were a time of almost constant unrest. Although initially he was little-known to other writers, his works came to be hugely influential in both Chinese and Japanese literary culture. Of his poetic writing, nearly fifteen hundred poems have been preserved over the ages. He has been called the "Poet-Historian" and the "Poet-Sage" by Chinese critics, while the range of his work has allowed him to be introduced to Western readers as "the Chinese Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Wordsworth, Béranger, Hugo or Baudelaire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bai Suzhen
Bai Suzhen ( zh, t=白素貞), also known as Lady Bai (), is a one-thousand-year-old white snake spirit and the title character of the ''Legend of the White Snake'', one of China's "four great folktales". The legend has been adapted into several Chinese operas, films, television series and other media. In some versions of the legend, Bai Suzhen becomes a goddess; her worshippers refer to her as Madam White Snake (). Bai Suzhen is regarded as a symbol of true love and good-heartedness by the Chinese people. Depiction Bai Suzhen is often depicted as a white snake with the ability to transform into a beautiful young woman. During earlier depictions of this script – the Tang tale “Li Huang” and the Song “huaben” version Bai Suzhen was shown as a she-demon who was a malevolent seductress. She was seen as a seductress who would hunt down male partners. In the Ming and Qing version, Bai Suzhen depiction was changed to have a morally good depiction, showing more of a cari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong (, Mandarin pronunciation: ), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell. Sun Wukong possesses many abilities. He has supernatural strength and is able to support the weight of two heavy mountains on his shoulders while running "with the speed of a meteor". He is extremely fast, able to travel 108,000 li (54,000km, 34,000mi) in one somersault. He has vast memorization skills and can reme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaoguai
Yaoguai ( zh, 妖怪, p=yāoguài, s=妖怪, t=妖怪) represent a broad and diverse class of ambiguous creatures in Chinese folklore and Chinese mythology, mythology defined by the possession of supernatural powers and by having attributes that partake of the quality of the weird, the strange or the unnatural. They are especially associated with transformation and enchantment. They often dwell in remote areas or on the fringes of civilization where they produce all manner of unexplainable phenomena and mischief. They often have predatory or malevolent tendencies. Yaoguai vary considerably from one another in appearance and powers, and depending on particular individual or type, as being capable of shapeshifting, creating illusions, hypnosis, controlling minds, causing disease, clairvoyance, and draining the life force of mortals. While yaoguai are not evil in the sense Western demons are, they are usually weird and dangerous, tending to exert a baleful influence on mankind. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Journey To The West
''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. It was widely known in English-speaking countries through the British scholar Arthur Waley's 1942 abridged translation ''Monkey (novel), Monkey''. The novel is a fictionalized and fantasy, fantastic account of the pilgrimage of the Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who went on a 16-year journey to India in the 7th century AD to seek out and collect Buddhist scriptures (sūtras). The novel retains the broad outline of Xuanzang's own account, ''Great Tang Records on the Western Regions'', but embellishes it with fantasy elements from folk tales and the author's invention. In the story, it deals entirely with the earlier exploits of Sun Wukong, a monkey born on Mount Huaguo, Flower Fruit Mount ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xianhe Tongzi
Xianhe Tongzi, also known as Baihe Tongzi (), is a Chinese deity who is worshipped in temples and shrines as a spiritual power for getting rid of negative forces, as well as a deity of bravery, determination, and intelligence. He appears in the Ming dynasty mythological novel ''Investiture of the Gods'' (Fengshen Yanyi), as well as the Qing dynasty novel ''Fengjian Chunqiu''. Legends Folk belief Legend has it that the white snake Bai Suzhen, in a desperate attempt to save her beloved Xu Xian from the brink of death, ventured alone to Kunlun Mountain to steal the mystical Lingzhi herb, a plant of immortality. As she descended the mountain, she was intercepted by White Crane Boy, who blocked her path. At that moment, Old Man of the South Pole arrived and questioned her about the theft of the sacred herb. Bai Suzhen explained her plight, pleading for the elder's compassion and assistance. Moved by her devotion and sorrow, the Old Man of the South Pole gifted her the Lingzhi herb, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yin Jiao (deity)
Yin Jiao ( zh, c=殷郊 or zh, c=殷交) is a Taoist deity of the star Taisui or of Jupiter, also named Taisui Xingjun ( zh, t=太歳星君, s=太岁星君), Taisaishin (), Yin Yuanshuai and Yin Tianjun. In ''Investiture of the Gods'', he is the first son of the cruel King Zhou of Shang and the crown prince of the dynasty. Although King Zhou is a historical figure, Yin Jiao and are fictional characters. After being defeated by forces of Jiang Ziya, he is later enshrined by him as the god of Tai Sui. In a Ming dynasty work ', however, he sides with King Wu and kills the killer of his mother, Daji. As Yin Jiao, he is often pictured as a six-armed and three-headed man with many skulls on his neck and a golden bell in his hand, Bell of Fallen Souls, whose sound makes the enemies' souls fall off. ''Investiture of the Gods'' In ''Investiture of the Gods'', Yin Jiao is the crown prince of Shang dynasty. For killing Jiang Huan to avenge the death of their mother, , he and his brothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Wu Of Zhou
King Wu of Zhou (; died ), personal name Ji Fa, was the founding king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BCE and ended with his death three years later. King Wu was the second son of Ji Chang (posthumously King Wen) and Tai Si. In most accounts, his older brother Bo Yikao was said to have predeceased his father, typically at the hands of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty; in the '' Book of Rites'', however, it is assumed that his inheritance represented an older tradition among the Zhou of passing over the eldest son. (Fa's grandfather Jili had likewise inherited Zhou despite two older brothers.) Upon his succession, Fa worked with his father-in-law Jiang Ziya to accomplish an unfinished task: overthrowing the Shang dynasty. During the ninth year of his reign, Fa marched down the Yellow River to the Mengjin ford and met with more than 800 dukes. He constructed an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuanshi Tianzun
Yuanshi Tianzun (), the Celestial Venerable of the Primordial Beginning or the Primeval Lord of Heaven, is one of the highest deities of Taoism. He is one of the Three Pure Ones () and is also known as the Jade Pure One (). He resides in the Great Web or the Heaven of Jade Purity. It is believed that he came into being at the beginning of the universe as a result of the merging of pure breaths. He then created Heaven and Earth. In Taoist mythology In the '' Lingbao Scriptures'' (), Yuanshi Tianwang (, the Primordial Heavenly King) is transformed into a deity under Yuanshi Tianzun (, Heavenly Worthy of the Primordial Beginning), who is responsible for transmitting Daoist scriptures. After the Tang dynasty, some Daoist texts merged the identities of Yuanshi Tianzun and Yuanshi Tianwang into a single entity, reflecting the evolving nature of Daoist theology and cosmology. Additionally, certain Daoist scriptures record that Yuanshi Tianzun was originally named Le Jingxin (, "Joyfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Investiture Of The Gods
''The Investiture of the Gods'', also known by its Chinese titles () and is a 16th-century Chinese novel and one of the major Written vernacular Chinese, vernacular Chinese works in the gods and demons (''shenmo'') genre written during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Consisting of 100 chapters, it was first published in book form between 1567 and 1619. Another source claims it was published in a finalized edition in 1605. The work combines elements of history, folklore, mythology, legends and fantasy.Chew, Katherine Liang (2002). ''Tales of the Teahouse Retold: Investiture of the Gods''. Page XI. . The story is set in the era of the decline of the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) and the rise of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). It intertwines numerous elements of Chinese mythology, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, including deities, demons, immortals and spirits. The authorship is attributed to Xu Zhonglin (novelist), Xu Zhonglin. Pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
